Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri has been released from prison.

The businessman was sentenced in 2008 to four and a half years after pleading guilty to cheating investors by falsely claiming he had Vatican connections that enabled him to buy church property at a discount.

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Chris Burke, said that Follieri has been released from a jail in Loretto, 80 miles east of Pittsburgh, The AP reports.

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He added that non-residents are usually transferred to immigration authorities, and it has been reported that the native Italian will be deported.